Brazos County Judge Recused

The on-going conflict between a Brazos County Judge and the District's attorney's office has added another chapter in a four year feud.

Now, a judge's ruling may have put more fuel on the fire and possibly changed the course of an upcoming murder trial.

Brazos County Judge Rick Davis will not preside over the capital murder trial of Chad Davis.

As News Three first reported, District Attorney Bill Turner filed a motion to have Judge Davis recused from the trial because he felt the state couldn't get a fair trial in Davis' courtroom.

Davis refused, so the decision was passed on to visiting Judge Olen Underwood.

Thursday, Turner argued Davis was still holding a grudge from a 2001 reprimand precipitated by a complaint from Turner.

That complaint centered around a run-in between Davis and former prosecutor Laura Cass.

Turner said a Davis website promoting a change in the system that reprimanded him...is proof Davis hadn't gotten over the incident.

The Chad Davis capital murder trial is the first time Turner was scheduled to try a case before the judge since the fall out.

"My job is just to ensure that the state gets a fair hearing and hopefully things will level out. I'll continue to send assistant prosecutors in to his court but based on his feelings for me I need to have another venue to try cases in," said Turner.

Judge Davis released this statement, ''I respect Judge Underwood's ruling. We still have plenty of other cases to work on. I intend to conduct business as usual."

Chad Davis' attorney joined the state's motion to recuse judge Davis because he felt his client may not get a fair trial.

Brazos County Judge JD Langely will now preside over the trial which is expected to be pushed back because of the hearing.

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